Former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman slammed his party during an interview this weekend at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. He compared his party’s demand for purity and discipline to the Chinese Communist party,
BuzzFeed reports, saying that Ronald Reagan would “likely not” be able to win the GOP nomination today.
He said he regrets taking such a hard line against tax increases, criticizing pledges like the one from anti-tax activist Grover Norquist that almost all Republican politicians sign. On his party’s foreign policy, Huntsman said, “I don’t know what world these people are living in.
Jon Huntsman Slams GOP: Reagan Would ‘Likely Not’ Be Able To Win Today
[L]et’s not treat Huntsman as some kind of ultra-principled martyr. He’s an ambitious politician whose overall platform was far more conservative and tactically-driven than many realized. His economic program, for instance, was nothing short of radical — massive reductions for the super-wealthy and for corporations — and seemed tailor-made to win approval from the GOP’s supply-side wing. He also provided the most unqualified endorsement of Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to end Medicare as it now exists, was just as insistent as every other candidate that healthcare reform and the Dodd-Frank bank reform law be repealed, and sang the standard conservative tune on abortion, gay marriage, gun control and most other hot-button issues. Occasionally, he’d throw his media and non-Republican fans a bone, but he could be just as quick to reverse himself when he sensed an opportunity to make inroads with the right.
It wasn’t hard to see the strategy that was at work: Ride the “sane” image to a breakthrough showing in finicky, independent-friendly New Hampshire, then be positioned to win over suddenly curious national conservatives by saying, “Have you actually looked at my platform — I’m not the moderate you’ve heard I am.
Jon Huntsman is no martyr
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman won the endorsement of South Carolina’s largest newspaper, The State, on Sunday morning. The announcement comes six days before the Palmetto State primary as Huntsman attempts to quickly gain last- minute traction after spending very little time in the state. Huntsman finished a distant third in the New Hampshire primary after campaigning there for nearly six months straight.
This is the second time Huntsman has been endorsed by a major newspaper with just days to go before an early state primary this cycle. Shortly before the New Hampshire primary, the Boston Globe also backed the former ambassador to China. Like the Globe, The State praises both Huntsman and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney but stops short of endorsing the front-runner.
Huntsman wins key SC newspaper endorsement
…just to take third place in New Hampshire. Of course, that’s up from last place within just a few days, but still… He’s currently polling at 4% in South Carolina, 2% in Florida, and he sided with New Hampshire over Nevada when the two states were feuding over first-in-the-nation primary status, so I don’t anticipate him doing well there in February.
I think Huntsman is going to have to bow out after South Carolina. Rick Perry, too. Perry is polling at the very bottom, usually one point ahead of Huntsman.
Before we leave the weekend’s debates behind, and in keeping with the blog’s first rule of economics — Fk The Deficit. People Got No Jobs. People Got No Money. — I would be remiss not to mention the performance on Sunday of Dancin’ Dave Gregory, chronic Vineyard vacationer and Beltway King of Pain. He reached an entirely new level of smarm when he asked Jon Huntsman the following question:
Let’s talk substance. So Governor Huntsman, name three areas where Americans will feel real pain in order to balance the budget?
See, you stupid proles. The only “substance” worth talking about is exactly how miserable your lives will have to be made in order to keep The Deficit from eating our children in their beds, and how wretched your existence will have to become so that David Gregory and the people with whom he goes to dinner can think themselves people of serious purpose. And then, even after Huntsman had once again pledged fealty to the economic sadism that is the plan offered by zombie-eyed granny-starver Paul Ryan, which is why Huntsman’s position as The Only Sane One is not entirely accurate, Gregory still wasn’t satisfied.
Pain: The David Gregory Solution
[A]n analysis commissioned by Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, the web consulting firm CanDo.com presents a different hypothesis: that supporters of Huntsman’s campaign posted the video in an attempt to trigger a backlash against Paul.
It’s a charge Huntsman’s campaign flatly rejects, and Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller compared it to dabbling in 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Blasted Miller: “Their latest conspiracy theory is nothing more than an attempt to cover for one of their racist supporters. The Paul campaign has botched the response to this shameful video from the beginning. Had they simply condemned the video and their supporter, we would be discussing the important issues facing our country. Instead their ridiculous and easily debunked ‘commission report’ will continue to focus attention on this shameful video.”
But at the very least, there’s reason to doubt whether the video actually came from a Paul supporter. The YouTube account on which it was posted, NHLiberty4Paul, has no other videos attached to it and was created on the same day the video was posted. So was a corresponding Twitter account.
Paul analysis floats Huntsman video link; spokesman rejects ‘conspiracy theory’
I love watching Republicans engage in class warfare. They condemn it as a sin when Democrats come within 100 miles of even mentioning the sharp and growing class inequalities in the United States. But when conservatives play the class card, they see doing so as a high ethical calling involving the defense of good and moral folk against the depredations of a liberal elite.
Blatant hypocrisy is instructive.
Santorum, Huntsman And The Future Of Conservatism
On his first day back on the trail since Christmas, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman stepped far beyond the boundaries of his usually polite stump speech to repeatedly slam Ron Paul as “unelectable” because of “out there” views on foreign policy. Huntsman is the latest candidate to join an intensifying Republican crescendo of criticism of the Texas Congressman as the Iowa caucuses approach.
Huntsman calls Paul ‘unelectable’
